So What Was the Transistor Good For ... a fun product to catch the nation's attention. They thought a radio was just the thing to make a splash. TI built the transistors; Regency built the ...

Before the MP3 was the Walkman and before that was the "tranny" - the transistor radio. Personal radios existed before their mass popularity in the 1960's, but then they became a teenage 'must-have'.

Just as digital camera makers would with megapixels four or five decades later, makers of transistor radios would cram as many transistors as they could into their products in a game of one-upmanship.